Appreciation post: fixed a weird fridge noise that had me stumped for a week

I was at a house call in the north end of town last Tuesday for a fridge making a high pitched whine. Customer said it had been going on for a month. I checked the usual stuff, compressor, condenser fan, evaporator fan, all seemed fine. I was about to tell them it was just normal operating sound when I decided to pull the whole unit out from the wall. Behind it, the customer had shoved a cardboard box full of old linens against the back panel for storage. The vibration from the compressor was making the cardboard flap against the coils at just the right frequency to create that whine. Moved the box, sound gone. I felt like an idiot for almost missing it, but the relief on their face was worth it. Anyone else ever find a fix that was embarrassingly simple after overthinking it?

2 comments

2 Comments

blaked7926d ago

Honestly, pulling the unit out seems like overkill for a simple noise. Most of the time that whine is a fan bearing starting to go, you just gotta listen closer. I would have stuck with my first call and told them it's normal operation, saving us both the extra time. Sometimes a noise is just a noise.

pat_park5226d ago

Yeah but that high pitch whine drives customers nuts. Better to swap the fan now before it locks up and cooks the board.